Crossposted to alt.hedge.die.die.die

[flexagon]

This weekend I could have fretted nonstop about how I left work on Friday without knowing for sure if the build was broken. I could have flown to Paris or scrubbed my house from top to bottom or painted my cat. But what I really did is prune our hedges down by about 3.5 feet, where by 'prune' I start off meaning 'nipping small branches' and finish by meaning something more like 'logging'. Statistics:

• 21 lawn bags
• ~10 hours
• 1 rusty nail stepped on through shoe
• 1 spider dropping very close to my face
• 1 scream
• 1 incident of unconsciously throwing hacksaw while screaming.

Our insane, fussy, stupid upstairs neighbor freaked out because she hadn't realized that to eventually get a hedge to a certain height, you have to cut it a little lower to begin with... and that plants are not generally a solid mass of leaves, but rather tend to invest in leaves only where they can get light. Thus, the hedge is currently a bit ugly, and <freakety freak freak>. It's funny though... we can all argue which hedge height is prettier, but she who wields the hacksaw is the one who wins the short-term argument.

It's harder than you would think to kill a spider with a hacksaw, by the way.

I think the hedge looks better already, but more importantly it was nice to do something concrete and visible. I generally hate yardwork of any sort... but, considering the kind of week I had last week, it was good to be peacefully outside, connecting with nature and chopping the shit out of innocent living things.

Comments

[savage-rose.livejournal.com]

Go you!

[apfelsingail.livejournal.com]

*Laugh* Sounds like a great way to blow off some stress to me! Then again, I also work out on punching bags on a regular basis, so I would.

So... did you manage to kill said spider? You know you've entered the annals of spider mythology, right? "She Who Comes During The Day" or something?

[hiddenbear.livejournal.com]

oh no, why didn't you say you were going to do that? I have an electric hedge trimmer! It wouldn't have made it through the thickest of your branches, but it would have saved you so much time. :-(

[flexagon]

No no, my friend... this was 70% serious hacksaw work. We have an electric hedge trimmer too, and I just didn't find it suited to the job. Thanks though... your concern is taken warmly on a cold day. :)